With that out of the way, let’s get onto accessing the dark web-specifically Tor (which stands for The Onion Router), the largest darknet.

Although the dark web has become infamous for stories of large-scale illegal activity, there are various legitimate uses, including secure communications, whistleblowing, and breaking through censorship. Darknets are specifically designed for anonymity.ĭark web refers to websites on darknets and account for less than 1% of the information available on the internet. Read more: Come to the dark web… it’s a little safer nowĭarknet refers to a restricted overlay network that is only accessible with specific software or authorization.

The deep web accounts for over 90% of information on the internet. The surface web accounts for roughly 5% of information on the internet.ĭeep web, conversely, refers to non-indexable parts of the internet-content that’s only accessible through the use of passwords, encryption, or situationally with specific software. In other words, content in this portion of the World Wide Web is readily accessible and searchable with search engines. Surface web, also known as visible web, refers to the indexable parts of the internet. So before we take this deep dive, let’s first define what the surface web is, then clear up what these other terms mean. You may have heard the terms darknet, dark web, and deep web used interchangeably but there are distinctions between the three.

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